Costly “Free” Healthcare

If you think health care is expensive now just wait until it’s free…

Government run healthcare, known as “single payer healthcare for all”, proposed for CA under SB 562 will cost $400 BILLION A YEAR! That’s more than twice the entire state budget! Costing around $22,000 for every employed person in California – that’s a massive new tax to pay for “free” healthcare for all!

Senate Bill 562, by Senator Ricardo Lara (D – Bell Gardens), sets up a single payer plan for everyone living in California, including undocumented immigrants. It bans private health plans and creates a two-tier system: private, fee-for-service care for the wealthy and politically connected, and a taxpayer funded government plan for everyone else. Interestingly, the bill fails to identify a funding source but hints at a massive payroll tax deduction on working people. Since not everyone works, the cost per working person will actually be more! It applies to illegal immigrants, — CA would become a worldwide magnet for “free” health care!

Replacing health insurance and premiums, you pay higher taxes — upwards of a 15% payroll tax on workers! A nine-member panel would control all healthcare decisions in the state — creating a new government bureaucracy.

Despite all this, SB 562 passed the Senate floor this week and is headed to the Assembly, where I will see it in Assembly Health committee.

Competition is the best way to keep costs low — not one giant government program!